In the 1980s and 90s, radio stunts were the gold standard for buzz. Last one touching the car wins it (The Hands On Marathon). Set a record for the longest kiss (bonus points if it’s strangers competing-The Lips On Marathon). Lock four strangers in a van. Listeners vote one out per week until only one is left standing. Stage a wedding between complete strangers. We thrived on larger-than-life promotions that became a spectacle.
Fast-forward to today, and that crown has been stolen. Not by television. Not by TikTok. By a 26-year-old kid from North Carolina named Jimmy Donaldson—better known as MrBeast.
MrBeast has built a billion-dollar empire by doing the kinds of things radio once owned. His playbook is shockingly familiar: outrageous stunts, community involvement, massive prizes, and emotional payoffs. The difference? He plans, stages, and executes them with precision that makes most radio stunts look like middle-school pranks.
If radio is serious about reclaiming attention, it’s time to study the MrBeast playbook.
Rule #1: The Stunt Is the Brand
MrBeast doesn’t “add” stunts to his brand. They are the brand. Every video is a bigger-than-life spectacle—“I spent 50 hours buried alive,” “Last one to leave wins a house,” “I gave $1 million to charity.”
Compare that to radio, where stunts are often bolted on like an afterthought. “Oh yeah, let’s do something wild for sweeps.”
Radio Lesson: If a stunt doesn’t advance your show’s brand character, don’t do it. The best promotions are not gimmicks. They’re on-brand expressions of who you are.
Rule #2: Plan Like NASA
MrBeast videos look chaotic, but they’re choreographed down to the frame. His team scripts the story arc, stages visuals for maximum shareability, and builds redundancies so nothing derails the shoot.
Too many radio stunts are sketched on a napkin. That’s why they fizzle or backfire.
Radio Lesson: Build the story before you launch. What’s the hook? What’s the payoff? What visuals will the TV news crews (or TikTok) capture? Where could it go wrong, and what’s Plan B?
Rule #3: The Stakes Must Be Clear
“Last one to leave the circle wins $500,000.” That’s it. The audience knows the rules, the prize, and the tension in one line.
Radio too often muddies the water: “We’re going to see how long we can stay on this crane until maybe we get enough donations.” That doesn’t drive suspense.
Radio Lesson: Define a measurable goal and build the drama around it. “We won’t come down until 100,000 pounds of food is donated.” Simple. Sharable. Easy to root for.
Rule #4: Think Visually First
MrBeast doesn’t just design for YouTube—he designs for TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and news headlines. His visuals travel.
Radio is still audio-first. But in 2025, if your stunt can’t be filmed, clipped, and shared, it’s only half-real.
Radio Lesson: Stage the stunt for video. Think about what it looks like on TikTok before you think about what it sounds like on the air. The audience scrolling Instagram might be bigger than the one in your market.
Rule #5: Scale the Emotion
MrBeast gives away islands, cars, or a million bucks. You probably don’t have that budget. But scale is relative. His true secret isn’t money—it’s emotion.
When he pays for someone’s life-changing surgery, it’s generosity. When he stages endurance challenges, it’s drama. Every stunt creates a feeling.
Radio Lesson: It doesn’t matter if your prize is $500, not $500,000. What matters is creating the same emotional lift. Find the story behind the prize. Highlight the winner’s reaction. Build a human connection, not just a payoff.
Rule #6: Own the Narrative
MrBeast controls the storyline from start to finish. The setup, the teases, the “or else,” the climactic reveal—it’s all deliberate.
Too many radio stunts get lazy in the middle. Day one: “We’re on the crane!” Day five: “Yep, still up here.” By then, the audience has moved on.
Radio Lesson: Break the stunt into episodes. Build teases. Add twists. Create cliffhangers. Keep listeners leaning in, not tuning out.
Case Study: Radio vs. MrBeast
- Radio Billboard Sit-In: DJ lives on a billboard until $50,000 is raised. Local media covers it. Crowds gather. Buzz builds… for a week. Then the energy fizzles.
- MrBeast Endurance Challenge: 10 strangers live in a glass house for 100 days with a $500,000 prize. Every single day becomes an episode, with mini-challenges, twists, alliances, and betrayals. The story evolves.
One lasts a week. The other dominates global attention for months.
Final Word
MrBeast is living proof that stunts still work. The formula hasn’t changed. The execution has.
Radio has the immediacy. Radio has the community. Radio has the personalities. Blend those with the discipline of the MrBeast Playbook—tight planning, visual staging, clear stakes, emotional payoffs—and you can create moments that don’t just light up your market. They ripple far beyond it.
Next Steps for You:
- Audit your last three stunts: Did they fit your brand? Did they have a clear end goal? Were they visually designed?
- Brainstorm one MrBeast-style stunt scaled to your resources. Write the headline first (“Last one to…” or “We won’t stop until…”) and reverse-engineer the story.
- Plan for TikTok as much as for the morning show. Your next great stunt may break bigger online than on-air.
Pic designed by zamrznutitonovi for Envato Elements.
Tracy Johnson is a talent coach and programming consultant. He’s the President/CEO of Tracy Johnson Media Group. His book Morning Radio has been described as The Bible of Personality Radio and has been used by personalities worldwide.